The FAO project "Ecodevelopment and buffer zone management planning" has carried out a study on the current and potential utilization of NWFPs in their contribution to local community development and buffer zone management among pilot villages surrounding the Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary in central Thailand.
Buffer zoning recognizes the need for conservation of remaining forest resources by forest fringe inhabitants. Instead of trying to ignore the presence of human populations and rely on police actions to restrict resource access, the policy embraces communities' legitimate role in the conservation effort. The idea that intensification of income-generating activities could ensure less demand on forest resources is controversial. Nevertheless, buffer zones were adopted in the Forestry Sector Master Plan and in a proposed biodiversity conservation project as essential preconditions for the conservation of the threatened wildlife sanctuaries and parklands.
In the area, dependence of village residents on NWFPs for subsistence products and services is specialized: women are the principal extractors of NWFPs and are also those principally engaged in marketing such products. Several women have formed gathering groups that often enter the forest together to obtain useful products, sharing the proceeds from any future market. The concentration of NWFP-related activities in the hands of women constitutes an important resource for household nutrition and maintenance. The fact that such activities are differentiated by gender could justify access to funding sources directed towards improving economic self-reliance among women. Most households gather NWFPs directly for their own use and some households collect larger quantities to market. This intensification places great pressure on the resources and certain species in demand (mushrooms, certain wild fruits and rattan shoots) are becoming difficult to find. This is linked to the absence of a set of property rights and responsibilities that would enable resources to recover once harvested.
NWFPs consumed and marketed by village residents are estimated to generate an average income per household of about 4 125 baht, of which one-third refers to cash income from marketed products. The most important marketed products are pak waan (Melientha suavis), pak naam (Lasia spinosa), wild chillies (Capsicum sp.), bamboo shoots (Bambusa sp.), maphai (Baccarea sapida), and ragum (Salacca rumphii). The total value represents a significant 15 percent of the average on-farm income of residents, an economic importance which is judged to be considerably higher among poorer and female-headed households.
The seasonality of forest product availability is one of the most important factors affecting the timing and intensity of NWFP utilization. The critical months for the harvest of NWFPs are April to July when wild fruits are abundant and mushrooms are likely to be found. These months are also critical for cropland preparation and planting.
The management and utilization of NWFPs may be promoted as an allowable activity within the buffer zone, provided that harvesting rates do not exceed the sustainable natural productivity of the resources and enrichment plantings are carried out to enhance that sustainable yield. In the selection of NWFPs with potential for local development the following characteristics are considered important: local knowledge/use, multiple purpose, high market value, potential for value added and existing market channels.
Forest product extraction for commercial purposes is prohibited both within the reserve forests and wildlife refugees in Thailand. Nevertheless, de facto utilization of NWFPs continues by fringe communities. The use of resources has been regulated by the granting of concessions to individuals or firms to extract forest products. Timber concessions were eliminated with the 1989 cutting ban, but some concessions remain in force in some forest reserve areas for certain NWFPs including, for example, bamboo and honey. Buffer zone management planning should concentrate on better clarity in the definition and enforcement of property rights. Joint management of the reserve forest by local communities in the buffer zone should establish rights and responsibilities and might include licensing of NWFP-extraction for those resources (rattans and wild mushrooms, for example) that may be threatened by continued open-access harvesting. A production association made up of small groups of village members could act as licensee. Such an arrangement could also serve as the basis to offer credit for enterprise development through the national Agricultural Bank.
NWFP availability should not rely only on reforestation or agroforestry
systems, but should be supported by a forest regeneration strategy.
Such a strategy would aim to maximize the high degree of biodiversity
found in local forest ecosystems. Natural regeneration procedures
have been adopted in community-managed forests elsewhere in Thailand,
notably in the northeastern region. However, this regeneration
approach alone would not be adequate to meet the significant fuelwood
demands that have been identified in the area. In order to address
this particular need, in the buffer zone management plan, natural
forest regeneration would have to be combined with the establishment
of woodlots.
(Source: P. May, 1995, Consultancy report, TCP/THA/4453.)
Dos proyectos de Conservación Internacional promueven el manejo de los PFNM en la zona de amortiguamiento de la Reserva Cotacachi-Cayapas en el noroeste del Ecuador: "Iniciativa Tagua" (ver también Non-Wood News 2) y "Productos no maderables del bosque tropical" (parte de la Red Andina de Productos Sostenible-PAS). Con estos dos proyectos, con un financiamiento total de 1 250 000 $ EE.UU., se busca alcanzar un nuevo enfoque de conservación hacia la búsqueda de soluciones económicas para las comunidades del norte de Esmeraldas, promoviendo el desarrollo de actividades rentables. Los resultados que se esperan obtener con los proyectos son: la creación de microempresas de procesamiento de productos no maderables, el desarrollo de canales de comercialización nacionales e internacionales, la elaboración de un plan de manejo para el área de intervención, y el establecimiento de un sistema de monitoreo de los recursos y de los impactos sociales y económicos.
Otro proyecto, "Productos forestales no maderables en el Parque Nacional Machalilla y en la zona de amortiguamiento de Chongón-Colonche", está en fase de formulación por la CIDESA junto a IUCN y KFW-Alemania, con el apoyo de la ONG Fundación Natura de Guayaquil. (Para información adicional, contactar al Ing. Rodrigo Calero, CIDESA, Avenida República, 2561, Quito, Ecuador. Tel: +593-2-467684.)
Hunting of forest animals for human consumption is widespread over much of the Guineo-Congolian rainforests of Africa, especially in some West and Central African countries. Subsistence and large-scale commercial hunting are important in these countries and may be a major reason for the decline of certain species. Despite the threat caused to animals in this part of Africa, few data are available on the extraction and consumption of forest animals by local populations and on their impact on wildlife resources. Although it has been argued that very few wild animal populations are declining as a result of hunting and that destruction of food supply and habitat are the major threats, it is certain that intense and sustained hunting pressure may greatly reduce game from many areas. The study of bushmeat supply to towns and city markets is considered to provide valuable information on wildlife use and exploitation in the consumer regions. Although markets reflect the effect of habitat and species variations as well as hunter efficiencies, etc., nonetheless, numbers and fluctuations of game species entering markets can be useful for monitoring species status and advancing management solutions. Although the question of whether animal numbers in markets represent a valuable index of exploitation of the species in the adjoining areas remains open, studies on meat consumption by the urban population are seen as a priority in wildlife conservation strategies.
A study on market dynamics of bushmeat species carried out in Bata and Malabo, the two most important towns in Equatorial Guinea, Central Africa, emphasized the importance of bushmeat as a substantial source of protein and financial income for rural and urban populations. Bushmeat is sold in markets throughout the year. Less meat is available in the wet season, especially during the months of the heaviest rainfall, because of difficulties posed by storms and a decrease in mobility of certain species during the rains. Species found in the markets largely fall into a specific weight range: price per kg and low palatability exclude the smaller species from markets (such as squirrels, Miopithecus talapoin and bats), while larger species are uncommon in the markets because they require more specialized hunting techniques and high investment in extraction and transport to markets. There are only a few species that are the mainstay of market activities. The main prey is Cephalophus monticola, a species which is also heavily hunted in other parts of Central Africa. Two other species that account for a significant part of the animal biomass on sale are the two rodents Atherurus africanus and Cricetomys emini.
Numbers of game sold in markets are a proportion of what is actually hunted, although this varies according to the species. These data on market sales are useful indicators of exploitation for species such as primates and ungulates, most of which end up in markets, but less so for rodents and smaller species. The study has shown that bushmeat demand in large towns may possibly exceed supply at present.
The conservation of common wildlife resources in Equatorial Guinea requires an approach that takes human needs into account. Faunal impoverishment in rural areas is unlikely while hunting is for subsistence only. The danger lies in an uncontrolled rising demand for animal protein from the urban centres, in a greater availability of shotguns and in easier accessibility of forest through the enlargement of roads. (Source: Juste, J. et al. 1995. J. Applied Ecology, 32.)
Increasingly, researchers are beginning to realize that the distinction between wild and domestic species (of animals and plants) is not as clear cut as was once thought. Humans have been manipulating wild species for millennia and careful research has shown many cases where indigenous people engage in "partial domestication", which could also be referred to as "soft management". Although practices of soft management are less documented for animals than for plants, they are applied throughout the world. The most obvious of these practices is the use of fire to increase hunting success. Often soft management practices include rotation of hunting zones, restraint from killing females, taboos and seasonal movements by hunters. In Zambia, farmers have been known to plant trees around their houses because they seasonally host a highly appreciated caterpillar. The indigenous people of the Amazon refrain from cutting wild fruit-bearing trees in gardens in order to increase populations of game animals. Farmers have been known deliberately to plant more crops than are needed in order to provide food for game animals. However, since cause and effect of many of these practices have not been quantified, it may turn out that some of the techniques simply make animals easier to kill, rather than actually influencing breeding patterns or increasing production rates.
Soft management options can be applied for managing animal species for food production both for subsistence use and luxury markets. Examples of these options are insects in Mexico, turtles in Brazil, snakes in Southeast Asia and forest duikers in Africa.
Large animals most often associated with meat production require substantial forest or woodland to support them. In many situations, where only pockets of forest remain and are often degraded, there is the need to incorporate small-sized wildlife which is often highly productive. A few good examples to illustrate the potential of very small animals exist regarding insects. In Southeast Asia, attempts have been made to breed caterpillars of the tropical butterfly Papilio polytes for food. These caterpillars have a quicker food conversion rate than any other popular animal used for food production. In southern Africa, caterpillars of the mopanie moth (Conimbrasia belina) are raised for food and even a caterpillar cannery has recently been established. Projects under way in Nepal, Mexico and Thailand are exploring ways in which insects may be raised or mass-harvested for local consumption as well as marketing.
There are also many examples of soft management techniques being applied to insects in the wild. In many parts of the tropics, the larvae of large beetles are much appreciated for their fat content. In order to facilitate the collection of these larvae, suitable locations for oviposition are prepared, left for the female to locate and visited for the collection of larvae. Butterflies much sought after by collectors are managed along the same lines.
In addition to insects, other kinds of very small animals may be managed in the wild, as in the case of frogs and fish in rice paddies and irrigation canals. (Source: Redford, K., Goshall, R. & Asher, K. 1995. What about wild animals? Community Forestry Note No. 13. FAO.)